A DIARY of a former Blackburn doctor recounting a doomed Antarctic expedition in 1914 was sold for £104,950 yesterday.

The Scott Polar Research Institute, a college of Cambridge University, purchased the piece after it was auctioned at Christie's. The college is one of the oldest international centres in the world covering the antarctic and arctic regions.

Christie's expected to sell the diary for £80,000, but it became the most expensive piece from the 100 lot sale.

The diary tells the story of six men who battled across 800 miles of land after their ship - Endurance - sank, crushed by ice .

The diary's author, Dr Alexander Hepburne Macklin, left a job as house surgeon at Blackburn Royal Infirmary, to use his medical expertise on the ship.

Dr Macklin, who was 24 at the time, was enticed to join the expedition of Ernest Shackleton, who was the first man to locate the magnetic South Pole in 1909.

The diary describes how the men neared death before their amazing escape.

In it Macklin describes the last days of Endurance as "huge animal in pain, twisting, shivering, groaning, whining as her timbers gave before the terrible pressure."

The expedition managed to use dog-drawn sledges and boats to reach Elephant Island after Endurance sunk.

They then travelled 800 miles to South Georgia, from where they were rescued in 1916.

Macklin was scathing about Shackleton as they made the journey. He wrote: "He has made a total mess of everything since leaving the ship and behaves like a spoilt brat. He has lost the faith of all members, and his leadership." His diary detailed all aspects of the journey, including the point where the men where forced to eat the ship's dogs. He describes the meat as "surprisingly delicate".

Dr Macklin went straight into the army after being rescued to serve in the First World War. On his return he became a director of student health at Aberdeen University until retirement in 1960. He died seven years later aged 77.

Nicholas Lambourn, specialist in charge of the sale, said: "Many here in the UK will be thrilled that these important polar records have been saved for the nation.

"The 100 lots of the Shackleton Collection were enthusiastically received by a packed auction room and went on to receive a total of £338,216."